Pan Adam started for Rashkoff immediately after his betrothal,
to find and furnish quarters for Pani and Panna Boski; two weeks
after his departure a whole caravan of Hreptyoff guests left the
fortalice. It was composed of Naviragh, the two Anardrats, the
Armenian women (Kyeremovich and Neresevich), Seferevich, Pani and
Panna Boski, the two Pyotroviches, and old Pan Novoveski, without
counting a number of Armenians from Kamenyets, and numerous
servants, as well as armed attendants to guard wagons, draft
horses, and pack animals. The Pyotroviches and the delegation
of the patriarch of Echmiadzin were to rest simply at Rashkoff,
receive news there concerning their journey, and move on toward
the Crimea. The remainder of the company determined to settle in
Rashkoff for a time, and wait, at least till the first thaws, for
the return of the prisoners; namely, Boski, the younger Seferevich,
and the two merchants whose wives were long waiting in sorrow.
That was a difficult road, for it lay through silent wastes and
steep ravines. Fortunately abundant but dry snow formed excellent
sleighing; the presence of commands in Mohiloff, Yampol, and
Rashkoff insured safety. Azba Bey was cut to pieces, the robbers
either hanged or dispersed; and the Tartars in winter, through lack
of grass, did not go out on the usual roads.
Finally, Pan Adam had promised to meet them with a few tens of
horses, if he should receive permission from Pan Rushchyts. They
went, therefore, briskly and willingly; Zosia was ready to go to
the end of the world for Pan Adam. Pani Boski and the two Armenian
women were hoping for the speedy return of their husbands. Rashkoff
lay, it is true, in terrible wilds on the border of Christendom;
but still they were not going there for a lifetime, nor for a long
stay. In spring war would come; war was mentioned on the borders
everywhere. When their loved ones were found, they must return with
the first warm breeze to save their heads from destruction.
Eva remained at Hreptyoff, detained by Pani Basia. Pan Novoveski
did not insist greatly on taking his daughter, especially as he was
leaving her in the house of such worthy people.
“I will send her most safely, or I will take her myself,” said
Basia, “rather I will take her myself, for I should like to see
once in my life that whole terrible boundary of which I have heard
so much from childhood. In spring, when the roads will be black
from chambuls, my husband would not let me go; but now, if Eva
stays here, I shall have a fair pretext. In a couple of weeks I
shall begin to insist, and in three I shall have permission surely.”
“Your husband, I hope, will not let you go in winter unless with a
good escort.”
“If he can go, he will go with me; if not, Azya will escort us with
a couple of hundred or more horses, for I hear that he is to be
sent to Rashkoff in every case.”
The conversation ended with this, and Eva remained in Hreptyoff.
Basia, however, had other calculations besides the reasons given to
Pan Novoveski. She wished to lighten for Azya an approach to Eva,
for the young Tartar was beginning to disquiet her. As often as he
met Basia he answered her queries, it is true, by saying that he
loved Eva, that his former feeling had not died; but when he was
with Eva he was silent. Meanwhile the girl had fallen in love with
him to desperation in that Hreptyoff desert. His wild but splendid
beauty, his childhood passed under the strong hand of Novoveski,
his princely descent, and that prolonged mystery which had weighed
upon him, finally his military fame, had enchanted her thoroughly.
She was waiting merely for the moment to open to him her heart,
burning as a flame, and to say to him, “Azya, I have loved thee
from childhood,” to fall into his arms and vow love to him till
death. Meanwhile he closed his teeth and was silent.
Eva herself thought at first that the presence of her father
and brother restrained Azya from a confession. Later, disquiet
seized her too, for if obstacles arose unavoidably on the part
of her father and brother, especially before Azya had received
naturalization, still he might open his heart to her, and he was
bound to do so the more speedily and sincerely the more obstacles
were rising on their road.
But he was silent.
Doubt crept at last into the maiden’s heart, and she began to
complain of her misfortune to Basia, who pacified her, saying:--
“I do not deny that he is a strange man, and wonderfully secretive;
but I am certain that he loves you, for he has told me so
frequently, and besides he looks on you not as on others.”
To this Eva, shaking her head, answered gloomily: “Differently,
that is certain; but I know not whether there is love or hatred in
that gaze.”
“Dear Eva, do not talk folly; why should he hate you?”
“But why should he love me?”
Here Basia began to pass her small hands over the maiden’s face.
“But why does Michael love me? And why did your brother, when he
had barely seen Zosia, fall in love with her?”
“Adam has always been hasty.”
“Azya is haughty, and dreads refusal, especially from your father;
your brother, having been in love himself, would understand more
quickly the torture of that feeling. This is how it is. Be not
foolish, Eva; have no fear. I will stir up Azya well, and you’ll
see how courageous he’ll be.”
In fact, Basia had an interview with Azya that very day, after
which she rushed in great haste to Eva.
“It is all over!” cried she on the threshold.
“What?” asked Eva, flushing.
“Said I to him, ‘What are you thinking of, to feed me with
ingratitude? I have detained Eva purposely that you might take
advantage of the occasion; but if you do not, know that in two,
or at furthest three weeks, I will send her to Rashkoff. I may
go myself with her, and you’ll be left in the lurch.’ His face
changed when he heard of the journey to Rashkoff, and he began to
beat with his forehead to my feet. I asked him then what he had on
his mind, and he answered: ‘On the road I will confess what I have
in my breast. On the road,’ said he, ‘will be the best occasion;
on the road will happen what is to happen, what is predestined. I
will confess all, I will disclose all, for I cannot live longer in
this torment.’ His lips began to quiver, so anxious was he before,
for he has received some unfavorable letters from Kamenyets. He
told me that he must go to Rashkoff in every event, that there is
an old command of the hetman to my husband touching that matter;
but the period is not mentioned in the command, for it depends on
negotiations which he is carrying on there with the captains. ‘But
now,’ said he, ‘the time is approaching, and I must go to them
beyond Rashkoff, so that at the same time I can conduct your grace
and Panna Eva.’ I told him in answer that it was unknown whether I
should go or not, for it would depend on Michael’s permission. When
he heard this he was frightened greatly. Ai, you are a fool, Eva!
You say that he doesn’t love you, but he fell at my feet; and when
he implored me to go, I tell you he just whined, so that I had a
mind to shed tears over him. Do you know why he did that? He told
me at once. ‘I,’ said he, ‘will confess what I have in my heart;
but without the prayers of your grace I shall do nothing with the
Novoveskis, I shall only rouse anger and hatred in them against
myself. My fate is in the hands of your grace, my suffering, my
salvation; for if your grace will not go, then better that the
earth swallowed me, or that living fire burned me.’ That is how he
loves you. Simply terrible to think of! And if you had seen how he
looked at that moment you would have been frightened.”
“No, I am not afraid of him,” answered Eva, and she began to
kiss Basia’s hands. “Go with us; go with us!” repeated she, with
emotion; “go with us! You alone can save us; you alone will not
fear to tell my father; you alone can effect something. Go with us!
I will fall at the feet of Pan Volodyovski to get leave for you.
Without you, father and Azya will spring at each other with knives.
Go with us; go with us!” And saying this, she dropped to Basia’s
knees and began to embrace them with tears.
“God grant that I go!” said Basia. “I will lay all before Michael,
and will not cease to torment him. It is safe now to go even
alone, and what will it be with such a numerous retinue! Maybe
Michael himself will go; if not, he has a heart, and will give me
permission. At first he will cry out against it; but just let me
grow gloomy, he will begin to walk around me at once, look into my
eyes, and give way. I should prefer to have him go too, for I shall
be terribly lonely without him; but what is to be done? I will go
anyhow to give you some solace. In this case it is not a question
of my wishes, but of the fate of you and Azya. Michael loves you
both,--he will consent.”
After that interview with Basia, Azya flew to his own room, as full
of delight and consolation as if he had gained health after a sore
illness. A while before wild despair had been tearing his soul;
that very morning he had received a dry and brief letter from Pan
Bogush of the following contents:--
MY BELOVED AZYA,--I have halted in Kamenyets, and to
Hreptyoff I will not go this time; first, because fatigue
has overcome me, and secondly, because I have no reason to
go. I have been in Yavorov. The hetman not only refuses to
grant you permission by letter to cover your mad designs
with his dignity, but he commands you sternly, and under
pain of losing his favor, to drop them at once. I, too,
have decided that what you have told me is worthless. It
would be a sin for a refined, Christian people to enter
into such intrigues with Pagans; and it would be a disgrace
before the whole world to grant the privileges of nobility
to malefactors, robbers, and shedders of innocent blood.
Moderate yourself in this matter, and do not think of the
office of hetman, since it is not for you, though you are
Tugai Bey’s son. But if you wish to re-establish promptly
the favor of the hetman, be content with your office, and
hasten especially that work with Krychinski, Adurovich,
Tarasovski, and others, for thus you will render best
service.
The hetman’s statement of what you are to do, I send with
this letter, and an official command to Pan Volodyovski,
that there be no hindrance to you in going and coming with
your men. You’ll have to go on a sudden to meet those
captains, of course; only hurry, and report to me carefully
at Kamenyets, what you hear on the other bank. Commending
you herewith to the favor of God, I remain, with unchanging
good wishes,
MARTSIN BOGUSH OF ZYEMBLYTS,
UNDER-CARVER OF NOVGROD.
When the young Tartar received this letter, he fell into a terrible
fury. First he crushed the letter in his hand into bits; then
he stabbed the table time after time with his dagger; next he
threatened his own life and that of the faithful Halim, who on his
knees begged him to undertake nothing till he had recovered from
rage and despair. That letter was a cruel blow to him. The edifices
which his pride and ambition had reared, were as if blown up with
powder; his plans were destroyed. He might have become the third
hetman in the Commonwealth, and held its fate in his hand; and now
he sees that he must remain an obscure officer, for whom the summit
of ambition would be naturalization. In his fiery imagination he
had seen crowds bowing down daily before him; and now it will
come to him to bow down before others. It is no good for him
either that he is the son of Tugai Bey, that the blood of reigning
warriors flows in his veins, that great thoughts are born in his
soul--nothing--all nothing! He will live unrecognized and die in
some distant little fortalice forgotten. One word broke his wing;
one “no” brought it about, that, henceforward, he will not be free
to soar like an eagle to the firmament, but must crawl like a worm
on the ground.
But all this is nothing yet, in comparison with the happiness which
he has lost. She for the possession of whom he would have given
blood and eternity; she for whom he was flaming like fire; she
whom he loved with eyes, hearty soul, blood,--would never be his.
That letter took from him her, as well as the baton of a hetman.
Hmelnitski might carry off Chaplinski’s wife; Azya, a hetman, might
carry off another man’s wife, and defend himself even against the
whole Commonwealth, but how could that Azya take her,--Azya, a
lieutenant of Lithuanian Tartars, serving under command of her
husband?
When he thought of this, the world grew black before his
eyes,--empty, gloomy; and the son of Tugai Bey was not sure but
he would better die, than live without a reason to live, without
happiness, without hope, without the woman he loved. This pressed
him down the more terribly since he had not looked for such a
blow; nay, considering the condition of the Commonwealth, he had
become more convinced every day that the hetman would confirm
those plans. Now his hopes were blown apart like mist before a
whirlwind. What remained to him? To renounce glory, greatness,
happiness; but he was not the man to do that. At the first moment
the madness of anger and despair carried him away. Fire was passing
through his bones and burning him fiercely; hence he howled and
gnashed his teeth, and thoughts equally fiery and vengeful were
flying through his head. He wanted revenge on the Commonwealth, on
the hetman, on Pan Michael, even on Basia. He wanted to rouse his
Tartars, cut down the garrison, all the officers, all Hreptyoff,
kill Pan Michael, carry off Basia, go with her beyond the Moldavian
boundary, and then down to the Dobrudja, and farther on, even to
Tsargrad itself, even to the deserts of Asia.
But the faithful Halim watched over him, and he himself, when he
had recovered from his first fury and despair, recognized all
the impossibility of those plans. Azya in this too resembled
Hmelnitski; as in Hmelnitski, so in him, a lion and a serpent dwelt
in company. Should he attack Hreptyoff with his faithful Tartars,
what would come of that? Would Pan Michael, who is as watchful as a
stork, let himself be surprised; and even if he should, would that
famous partisan let himself be slaughtered, especially as he had at
hand more and better soldiers? Finally, suppose that Azya should
finish Volodyovski, what would he do then? If he moves along the
river toward Yagorlik, he must rub out the commands at Mohiloff,
Yampol, and Rashkoff; if he crosses to the Moldavian bank, the
perkulabs are there, friends of Volodyovski, and Habareskul of
Hotin himself, his sworn friend. If he goes to Doroshenko, there
are Polish commands at Bratslav; and the steppe, even in winter,
is full of scouts. In view of all this, Tugai Bey’s son felt his
helplessness, and his malign soul belched forth flames first,
and then buried itself in deep despair, as a wounded wild beast
buries itself in a dark den of a cliff, and remained quiet. And
as uncommon pain kills itself and ends in torpidity, so he became
torpid at last.
Just then it was announced to him that the wife of the commandant
wished to speak to him.
Halim did not recognize Azya when he returned from that
conversation. Torpor had vanished from the Tartar’s face, his eyes
danced like those of a wild-cat, his face was gleaming, and his
white teeth glittered from under his mustaches; in his wild beauty
he was like the terrible Tugai Bey.
“My lord,” inquired Halim, “in what way has God comforted thy soul?”
“Halim,” said Azya, “God forms bright day after dark night, and
commands the sun to rise out of the sea.” Here he seized the old
Tartar by the shoulders. “In a month she will be mine for the ages!”
And such a gleam issued from his dark face that he was beautiful,
and Halim began to make obeisances.
“Oh, son of Tugai Bey, thou art great, mighty, and the malice of
the unbeliever cannot overcome thee!”
“Listen!” said Azya.
“I am listening, son of Tugai Bey.”
“I will go beyond the blue sea, where the snows lie only on the
mountains, and if I return again to these regions it will be at
the head of chambuls like the sands of the sea, as innumerable
as the leaves in those wildernesses, and I will bring fire and
sword. But thou, Halim, son of Kurdluk, wilt take the road to-day,
wilt find Krychinski, and tell him to hasten with his men to the
opposite bank over against Rashkoff. And let Adurovich, Moravski,
Aleksandrovich, Groholski, Tarasovski, with every man living of
the Lithuanian Tartars and Cheremis, threaten the troops. Let them
notify the chambuls that are in winter quarters with Doroshenko
to cause great alarm from the side of Uman, so that the Polish
commands may go far into the steppe from Mohiloff, Yampol, and
Rashkoff. Let there be no troops on that road over which I go, so
that when I leave Rashkoff there will remain behind me only ashes
and burned ruins.”
“God aid thee, my lord!” answered Halim.
And he began to make obeisances, and Tugai Bey’s son bent over him
and repeated a number of times yet,--
“Hasten the messengers, hasten the messengers, for only a month’s
time is left!”
He dismissed Halim then, and remaining alone began to pray, for he
had a breast filled with happiness and gratitude to God.
And while praying he looked involuntarily through the window at
his men, who were leading out their horses just then to water
them at the wells; the square was black there was such a crowd.
The Tartars, while singing their monotonous songs in a low voice,
began to draw the squeaking well-sweeps and to pour water into the
trough. Steam rose in two pillars from the nostrils of each horse
and concealed his face. All at once Pan Michael, in a sheepskin
coat and cowhide boots, came out of the main building, and,
approaching the men, began to say something. They listened to him,
straightening themselves and removing their caps in contradiction
to Eastern custom. At sight of him Azya ceased praying, and
muttered,--
“You are a falcon, but you will not fly whither I fly; you will
remain in Hreptyoff in grief and in sorrow.”
After Pan Michael had spoken to the soldiers, he returned to the
building, and on the square was heard again the songs of Tartars,
the snorting of horses, and the plaintive and shrill sound of
well-sweeps.